Crayola

Come back in time with me to when you were a kid. You're in a creative mood, and you pull out the markers and the paper, and you spread out your stash on the kitchen table in preparation for an afternoon of drawing and coloring. You decide the first picture you will draw will be of your house. So you draw your house, although it probably doesn't look much like your house because your house probably isn't square with a triangle on top. But it'll do.

Now that your house is done, what else could you draw next except your family? So you draw Dad and Mom, yourself, whatever siblings you might have, and perhaps even the family cat or dog. You encounter a problem, though, when you start sifting through your markers to bring some color to your paper. Your skin tone will have to be either white, yellow, orange, pink, or some variation of the three, which unfortunately doesn't work too well with markers. Perhaps drawing people with markers is just an impossibility?

An impossibility no longer. I received a shipment of Crayola products at Staples this week, in which I discovered a new box of markers meant to solve these coloring problems. They were called "Multicultural" markers, and they included eight skin-tone colors including Tan, Beige, Tawny, Gold, Beige, Bronze, Terra Cotta, Mahogany and Sienna. Gone are the days where children present their parents with family portraits where each family member appears highly sick with some strange skin disease - now realism has become an option. Well, perhaps an idealistic realism - I think I'll do a self portrait with the "Tan" marker . . .

Home Sweet Home!!

Although we can hardly believe that it's actually done, we have the papers sitting on our computer desk to prove it . . . we bought a house today! It seems a little hard to comprehend, especially since we saw our house for the first time less than 48 hours before it officially became ours. That sounds a little scary, but we are so excited!
On August 1, we will be moving into our cute little bungalow in the southwest of St Catharines, in an up-and-coming neighborhood. The house is right across the street from a park with a playground and a baseball diamond. It's a cozy little place, with three bedrooms, one bathroom (with a claw-foot tub!), a kitchen, living room and dining room, and a full unfinished basement. We love the beautiful hardwood floors which are throughout the house, as well as thick wood trim around all the doorways - it certainly has lots of character! It's 10 kilometers from Heritage, which is fantastic, and it's also on the bus route which is wonderful. After looking at a good number of other homes, it was exciting to walk into this one and realize very quickly that this was "the one". We are in love! August is so far away . . .
Ahhh! There's all this excess energy and excitement bundled up inside of us that it's hard to keep from bouncing around the walls, and it's pretty much impossible to concentrate on anything. 71 days till we move!!

Places to Visit Sometime in the Future

I believe it was about two years ago that Mike and I were on the road going somewhere which required a map-book, and I decided to look for streets named after us. I found that Michael is a fairly popular name, with Streets and Avenues and tree-lined Boulevards all over the place. I found one Rachel Avenue. It was in a trailer park.
Today, I discovered a place where we will need to go on vacation someday. It is Rachel, Nevada. A town! Named after me! And this is no ordinary town, either. It has a population of 98 people (down from around 500 in its glory days) who are "mostly very helpful, courteous, and rather interesting to talk to". It is home to a top secret US Air Force base, and is known as the "Sonic Boom Capitol of the World". We'll have to take Highway 375 to get there, officially known as the Extraterrestrial Highway. In fact, along with being the Sonic Boom capitol, it is also the UFO Capitol of the World, so evidently it is quite the place of fame and glory, definitely befitting its regal name. It has three local businesses: one restaurant, a mini-mart, and a gas station. It also recently even got its very own fire truck!
Something else, which I found quite appropriate given the time of year, was that every second Saturday in May is officially celebrated as Rachel Day, with a parade, crafts fair, live music, food and the whole nine yards. It is held in honour of the town's anniversary, officially founded in 1978.
So I was definitely excited to learn about the existence of this town, thinking that having a whole TOWN with my name, and a very unique town at that, more than makes up for the fact that the only Rachel street in Ontario is a trailer park. Then I discovered that everybody in the town of Rachel lives in mobile homes, and even the business are set up in trailers.
Shoot. After all that, it's still just a trailer park.

Information mostly taken (sometimes directly) from
http://www.rachel-nevada.com/

This may make a bit more sense...

Anyone Want My Autograph?

Move aside, Brad Pitt and George Bush, Shirley Temple and Madonna, because here come the Vander Deens and the Mussches. These long-lost celebrities have recently been discovered and it is here, today, that I reveal their true identities.
Try it yourself: http://www.myheritage.com/FP/Company/tryFaceRecognition.php?s=1&u=g0&lang=EN

Sarah = Barbara Stanwyck

Jeremy = Al Pacino

Karen = Rachel Bilson

Andrea = Halle Berry

Rachel = Penelope Cruz

Michael = Prince Harry of Wales

David = Justin Timberlake

Danielle = Condoleeza Rice

Lauren = Helen Clark

Rachel = Greg Lemond

I don't know how I ended up being a man.

Michael = Prince Harry of Wales

Rachel = Prince William of Wales

Somehow I am a man again. This time, royalty.

Perhaps the family ties are a little disturbing?

Why Didn't Somebody Tell Me

So, in one week from now, I will have worked at Staples for 7 months. Most full-time employees participate in a Tim's run, taking orders for people and bringing coffee at some point in the day, two or three times a week. I have thus far declined, for although I would absolutely love to have a coffee or a hot chocolate or a cafe mocha or some other such caffeinated delight, or even a chocolate glazed donut, I haven't really felt I can afford to take my turn treating 10 or 15 other people to whatever they happen to want from Tim's that day.
My somewhat frustrated question of the day is, why is it that I didn't learn until TODAY that these weekly Tim's runs are almost always paid for by the company?

I Can't Wait for New Landlords

Yesterday when Mike and I got home from work, we found an email from our wonderful landlord Redeemer Ancillary Services informing us that there would be a secondary fire safety inspection taking place this morning sometime. This would involve inspecting the landings and stairs of the independent apartments to be sure they were clear, as well as entering the apartments (whether or not anyone was home) to check the fire alarm and the fire extinguisher. These were inspected two weeks ago, but perhaps they have gone bad since then. Well, even though it seems a little wrong to have people snooping around in our home while we're away, I suppose being tenants we can expect these safety things every once in a while. So we complied - we cleaned up the house, hid the valuables, and removed absolutely everything from the landing. And this morning we left for work and were both gone by 7:15.
After we left, the Hamilton Spectator was delivered to our door (to which we do not subscribe, but it is left unsolicited at our doorstep every morning). After this delivery, the fire inspector came accompanied, I can assume, by a member of ancillary services. So they posted this big official sign on our door informing us that we have to remove our newspaper by April 17, or else Redeemer University College will remove it forcibly, and will not be held responsible for any loss or damage of personal property. The stairway assumably being an escape from possible fire, we have been instructed to "maintain these means of egress free of combustible storage and obstructions" or else we may face a large fine.
I've never heard of anyone being fined for not being home when their newspaper was delivered. Does this seem ridiculous to anybody else?

Spring and Snowmen

With the weather being up and down lately, it seems that spring has arrived, if ever so tentatively. And though I have been outside often without a coat this winter due to nature of my job, this morning I carted 35 bags of garbage to the bin with no coat and the temperature was almost comfortable. Also, there were birds chirping outside at 6:00 in the dark when we woke up. I have to say that though I agree that waking up early in the morning can make one feel responsible and hard-working and Dutch-Calvinistic, waking up before the sun wakes up is just a wee bit too depressing for me. The sun should come up with me when my alarm goes off.
Anyways, the coming of spring, combined with my search for entertaining children's poetry this evening, has led me to recall one of my more favourite poems of all time, which once upon a time I illustrated for an art class.

The Snowman

by Shel Silverstein

'Twas the first day of springtime,
And the snowman stood alone
As the winter snows were melting,
And the pine trees seemed to groan,
"Ah, you poor sad smiling snowman,

You'll be melting by and by."
Said the snowman, "What a pity,
For I'd like to see July.
Yes, I'd like to see July, and please don't ask me why.
But I'd like to, yes I'd like to, oh I'd like to see July."

Chirped a robin, just arriving,
"Seasons come and seasons go,
And the greatest ice must crumble
When it's flowers' time to grow.
And as one thing is beginning
So another thing must die,
And there's never been a snowman
Who has ever seen July.
No, they never see July, no matter how they try.
No, they never ever, never ever, never see July."

But the snowman sniffed his carrot nose
And said, "At least I'll try,"
And he bravely smiled his frosty smile
And blinked his coal black eye.
And there he stood and faced the sun
A blazin' from the sky
And I really cannot tell you
If he ever saw July.
Did he ever see July? You can guess as well as I
If he ever, if he never, if he ever saw July.

Lost

Please be aware that the creative juices of Rachel Vander Deen have somehow been misplaced. If you happen to find them hiding somewhere, in a dark corner of your home or in your sock drawer, or if you see them slinking away down the street, you are requested to apprehend them as soon as possible and return them to their rightful owner. Reward to be discussed.